Seven Gates: A Christmas Album

Personnel: Ben Keith (steel guitar, dobro, vibraphone, orchestra bells, vocals), Rusty Kershaw (vocals, guitar, triangle), Pegi Young, John Kevin Mulkey, Pamela Brown Hayes, Astrid Young, The Golden Gate Boys Choir And Bell Ringers (vocals), Rusty Kershaw (vocals, guitar, triangle), Mark Howard (guitar, mandolin, ukulele), Pat McLaughlin (guitar, mandolin, vocals, bass), Jack Clement (guitar, dobro), Grant Boatwright (guitar), Rufus Thibodeaux (fiddle), Larry Cragg (oboe), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Gove Scrivenor (autoharp), Gene Rabbai, Charles Cochran (keyboards), Joe Allen, Larry Paxton (bass), Kenny Malone, Gary Davis (percussion).
Producers: Ben Keith, Neil Young, David R. Ferguson, Gene Rabbai.
Engineers: John Nowland, Tim Mulligan, David R. Ferguson, Keith Keller.
Recorded at Redwood Digital, Woodside, California; The Cabin, Hermitage, Tennessee; Cowboy Arms Hotel & Recording Spa, Nashville, Tennessee; Chez Flames Recording, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Personnel: Ben Keith (vocals, steel guitar, dobro); Pat McLaughlin (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Neil Young (vocals, guitar, organ); Rusty Kershaw (vocals, guitar); Dob (vocals, vibraphone); Astrid Young, Pamela Brown Hayes, John Mulkey, Johnny Cash, Nicolette Larson (vocals); Jack Clement (guitar, dobro); Mark Howard (guitar, mandolin); Grant Boatwright, J.J. Cale (guitar); Gove Scrivenor (harp); Rufus Thibodeaux (fiddle); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Larry Cragg (oboe); Charles Cochran (keyboards); Kenny Malone (percussion).
Recording information: Cabin, Hermitage, TN; Chez Flam; Cowboy Arms Hotel & Recording Spa, Nashville, TN; Redwood Digital Studios, Woodside, CA.
Steel-guitar influences from New Orleans, Nashville, and Hawaii converge on a snowy December day for this Christmas album. Longtime Neil Young collaborator Keith convenes a cast of many to deliver a seasonal instrumental/vocal combo of "country-folk new age." The sound is pastoral and unassuming, but imbued with a rootsy serenity and stamped with the cachet of guest turns by Young, Johnny Cash, J.J. Cale, and Nicolette Larson. Particularly fascinating is Young holding his own with a 27-member boys choir on "Greensleeves." ~ Roch Parisien